Budget-Friendly Feline Fun: Discovering Cheap Cat Playthings Around Your Home

 

Cats, known for their playful nature and curious demeanor, often find joy in the simplest of things. While the pet market is flooded with an array of expensive cat toys, it's reassuring to know that you don't have to break the bank to keep your feline friend entertained. In this article, we'll explore a variety of budget-friendly cat playthings that you can easily find around your home.

Cardboard Boxes:

Cats are notorious for their love of boxes. Whether it's a shoebox or a larger package, felines have an innate attraction to these simple structures. Cut holes in the boxes to create tunnels or leave them intact for a cozy hiding spot. You'll be amazed at how much joy a plain cardboard box can bring to your cat's day.

Paper Bags:

Similar to boxes, paper bags are an inexpensive and readily available source of entertainment for your cat. The crinkling sound and the rustling texture appeal to their senses. Plus, a paper bag provides the perfect ambush spot for surprise attacks, ensuring your cat stays active and engaged.

DIY Feather Wand:

Instead of purchasing expensive feather wands, create your own using a stick, some string, and feathers. Simply tie a few feathers to the end of the string and dangle them in front of your cat. The unpredictable movements will mimic the motions of prey, triggering your cat's hunting instincts.

Homemade Catnip Toys:

Catnip is a natural and safe stimulant for cats. Instead of buying catnip-filled toys, you can make your own by sewing a small fabric pouch and filling it with dried catnip. Watch as your cat rolls, pounces, and enjoys the playful effects of this budget-friendly herbal delight.

Empty Toilet Paper Rolls:

Before discarding that empty toilet paper roll, consider giving it to your cat. Cats love batting at and chasing these lightweight cylinders. You can even make it more interesting by hiding treats inside, turning it into a puzzle toy that encourages mental stimulation.

Ping Pong Balls:

Simple and affordable, ping pong balls make fantastic cat toys. Their lightweight nature allows for easy batting and chasing, and the bouncing unpredictability will keep your cat entertained for hours. Add an extra layer of excitement by placing them in a shallow box for your cat to swat around.

Interactive Laser Pointers:

While laser pointers are inexpensive, they provide a high level of entertainment for cats. The elusive red dot triggers their predatory instincts, leading to endless rounds of chasing and pouncing. Ensure to let your cat "catch" the dot occasionally to satisfy their hunting satisfaction.

Old Socks:

Turn your mismatched or worn-out socks into cat toys by tying knots in them or filling them with crinkly materials. These makeshift plush toys can serve as comforting companions or be tossed around for a spirited game of fetch.

Conclusion:

You don't need to spend a fortune on fancy cat toys to keep your feline friend happy. By exploring the everyday items around your home, you can create a stimulating and budget-friendly environment that will bring out the playful nature in your cat. Remember, it's the joy and engagement that matter most to your furry companion, not the price tag on their toys.

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Cats Are Very Lovable Creatures

 

Absolutely! Cats have a knack for capturing our hearts with their enigmatic personalities and adorable antics. These beloved feline companions have been a part of human lives for thousands of years, revered in ancient cultures and cherished in modern households alike.

The Charm of Cats

1. Independent Spirits: 

Cats have an independent streak that adds to their charm. Unlike dogs, they don't rely heavily on constant attention and can entertain themselves, making them ideal companions for people with busy lifestyles.

2. Affectionate Nature: 

Contrary to popular belief, cats are incredibly affectionate creatures. They may not express it in the same exuberant way as dogs, but their purring, head bumps, and kneading are clear signs of their love and attachment.

3. Inquisitive Minds: 

Cats are naturally curious creatures. They're intrigued by their surroundings, often exploring every nook and cranny. Their curiosity can lead to hilarious situations, as anyone who has seen a cat investigating a cardboard box can attest!

Cultural Significance

1. Historical Reverence: 

Throughout history, cats have held significant roles in various cultures. In ancient Egypt, they were revered as symbols of grace and protection, associated with goddesses like Bastet. Their role in keeping rodents at bay also made them valuable assets on ships during maritime exploration eras.

2. Literary and Artistic Inspirations: 

Cats have inspired countless artists, writers, and creators. From T.S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" to the iconic "Cheshire Cat" in Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," these creatures have left an indelible mark on literature and art.

Health and Companionship

1. Therapeutic Companions: 

Cats offer more than just companionship; they can also have therapeutic benefits. Studies have shown that interactions with cats can reduce stress and anxiety levels, leading to improved mental well-being.

2. Physical Health: 

Having a cat as a pet can positively impact your physical health too. The calming presence of a cat, combined with their purring vibrations, is believed to aid in reducing blood pressure and heart rate.

Conclusion

Cats are undeniably lovable creatures that bring joy, comfort, and entertainment to our lives. Their unique personalities, playful behaviors, and unwavering companionship make them cherished members of countless households worldwide. Whether lounging in a sunbeam or chasing a toy with unbridled enthusiasm, cats continue to captivate our hearts and remain beloved companions for people of all ages.

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Tips For Stopping Spraying

Tips For Stopping Spraying

Anytime your cat backs himself up to a door or other object in your house, lifts his tail, and releases urine – you have a problem.  This problem is known as spraying and is very common with cats kept indoors.  Even though it is a very annoying problem, it’s a problem that can be solved.

Contrary to what many think, spraying isn’t a litter box problem, but rather a problem with marking.  Cat urine that is sprayed contains pheromones, which is a substance that cats and other animals use for communicating.  Pheromones are much like fingerprints with humans, as they are used to identify the cat to other animals.

When a cat sprays something, he is simply marking his territory through his urine.  The spraying is simply the cat’s way of letting others know that the territory is his.  Even though it may make you mad and annoy you, getting angry with your cat will solve nothing.  If you raise your voice or show angry towards your cat, it can very well result in more spraying.

Cats that are in heat are easily attracted to the odor of urine.  For cats in heat, spraying is more or less an invitation for love.  Often times cats that spray while in heat results in a litter of kittens that are born in just a few short months.  Keep in mind that cats not only spray during a heat, as some will also spray during encounters with other cats, or when they are feeling stressed.

Although spraying is a way of communicating for cats, the smell of people is horrible.  The good thing here is that most cats will do a majority of their spraying outdoors.  If you have an indoor cat that never goes outside, spraying can indeed be a problem.  If you’ve noticed spraying in your home, you should take action and do something about it immediately.

Cat Spraying No More!

The most effective and also the easiest way to stop spraying is to have your cat either neutered or spayed, which of course depends on the sex.  Most male cats that have been neutered will stop spraying the same day they have the surgery. If you don’t want to get your cat neutered or spayed, you should look into other options.  If you hope to one day breed your cat, you certainly don’t want to have him neutered or spayed.

The best thing to do in this situation is to talk to your veterinarian.  He will be able to give you advice and possibly even solve the problem without having surgery.  There may be a medical problem present that is causing the problem, which your vet can identify.  You should always do something about spraying the moment it starts – simply because cat urine stinks and it can leave stains all over your home.

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Cats Are Very Lovable Creatures

“Who would believe such pleasure from a wee ball o' fur?”- An Irish saying about cats, perhaps best describes what pleasure-giving creatures cats can be.

Jean Burden, beautifully defines the feline beauty. “A dog, I have always said, is prose; a cat is a poem.” Cats for many people are really very lovable - remember ‘Snowbell’ - the cat of “Stuart Little”.

Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to many ailments. Cat grooming is a very important part of keeping a cat as a healthy pet.  Cat supplies can be defined as important things that can be purchased for cat grooming and maintaining general good cat health.

Cat supplies is a general term that covers a variety of important cat care products. These topics could be used when undertaking an online Internet search for good value cat supply products for your pets - cat-grooming supplies, cat pet supplies, cat training supplies, and discount cat supplies.

Cat Grooming:

Cat grooming is, in fact, a long program of cat health care that covers the entire life span of a cat. It includes feline care, feline health care, feline diabetes care, etc. It also includes practices like kitten care, giving a hygiene bath, general cleaning, combing, brushing, checking ears, paws, teeth and underside, nail trimming, removing cat fleas and insects and fixing regular meetings with a professional veterinary. Cat owners should follow a regular schedule of grooming sessions.

Like children, infant cats, known as kittens, require some extra special attention. A kitten is delicate and should be handled with care. It also needs to be groomed properly, fed carefully, and bedded properly.

Cat Grooming Supplies:

Cat grooming supplies play a key role in the process of maintaining a happy and healthy cat.  Supplies for your pet may include a special cat home or house, cat doors, cat furniture, cat carrier, cat beds, heated cat beds, cat toys, cat collars, designer cat collars, jeweled or jingling cat collars, cat odor removers, cat clothes, special cat jewelry, cat food, cat tonics & supplements, and cat medication.

Cat Beds:

A cat bed is a bed specially designed for the sleeping comfort of a cat. It should be the most pleasurable place for a cat where it retires to take sweet dreams. Good cat beds are actually quite important for maintaining good cat health. An improper sleep may very much affect the general health of your cat - thus the masters of cats should be very careful when buying cat beds. A cat bed and cat bedding should include a cat bed mattress, cat bed sheet, cat pillows, cat throw pillows, cat blankets, and cat quilt or duvets.

Cat beds are available in numerous styles and include designer cat beds, heated cat beds, luxury cat beds, wicker cat beds, leather cat beds, etc.
There is a number of designer cat pet beds available on the market for purchase, both in physical pet stores and also online. Many pet bed manufacturers now sell their cat beds online, through their official company websites.

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Cats And Pills - Tablets

Nearly everything alive becomes ill at some stage in its life, and pets are no exception. I have been very fortunate in that my two cats have been very healthy for most of their lives. Recently the oldest cat becomes ill and had to go to the vet. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with a form of cancer. The treatment options were pills or radiation 'therapy'. The radiation therapy was very expensive so that left the pills. Pills are fine for humans, but if you have ever tried to administer pills to your cat then you would know some of the problems I have had.

I usually feed my cats on a dry 'all in one' biscuit diet. This diet and a supplement of fresh food have kept them very healthy for over 14years. But now I need to add pills to her diet every twelve hours. So what do I feed her that will hide the pill well enough for her to eat it without complaining? Well after some experimentation I came to the conclusion that hiding a whole pill was not the answer. Not the answer at all. Whole pills are located and removed from the food with amazing accuracy. The simple answer is to crush the pills before adding them to the food.

( Note: The pill should be added to a small quantity of food - half a normal serve or less, and that small quantity should be given to your pet BEFORE the rest of the meal. This helps to ensure your cat is hungry enough to eat the entire pill. Once the pill food is eaten you can give them the rest of the meal.)

Pills are usually quite easy to crush into a powder, I use two spoons, one small teaspoon as the crusher, and a larger desert spoon to hold the pill. Place the pill into the larger spoon and using the edge of the small spoon as a blunt knife, carefully break the pill into smaller chunks. Now use the small teaspoon to gently crush the chunks into powder. In less than two minutes you should be ready to sprinkle the powdered pill onto a small serve of food. Crushing the pill gets much easier once you have done two or three.

This is how I prepare chicken or fish for my cat at pill time :

Chicken: Cooked (cold)

Cooked chicken is a favorite food of my cats so it is a good pill food for them. To make the most reliable pill hiding food from cold chicken is really quite easy. First of all, you need to prepare the pill by crushing it into a powder as described above. Then you need a small serve of chicken that you can break up into smallish pieces - use your fingers, it gives the best results. Once you have broken up the chicken add a small quantity of water to the serving plate and roll the chicken in the water until it is wet all over. Now drain the excess water from the plate - too much water will leave the pill on the plate and not on the food where it needs to be.

The next step is optional, but it makes a big difference for my pets. The next step is to place the food in a microwave oven. All you want to do is VERY GENTLY warm up the food, I use about 6 SECONDS on high. What you are looking for is to remove the coldness of the food - which activates the SMELL of the food. Do not make the food hot! ( The heat could damage the pill that you are trying to feed them, and not many cats will eat hot food anyway.) Now that you have a very gently warmed serve of food it is time to add the pill. Just sprinkle the crushed pill over the wet, warm chicken and serve it up!
Note: Always add the Pill LAST!

Fish: Raw

If you want to use raw fish as a pill serving food then it pays to make sure that the cat in question likes the fish that you are going to use. ( Cats are fussy!) I have two cats, one eats fish at every opportunity, and the other will walk right past it and ask for something else.

So get a small piece of fish to test the cat with, and assuming that the fish is accepted it is easy to prepare. I use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut the fish into small pieces. A sharp knife is ok but the skin on fish is very tough, so for safety and ease of preparation I use scissors. Once you have the fish cut up all you need to do is sprinkle the powdered pill over the fish and serve it up. Raw fish is usually wet and quite smelly, so it doesn't require water to be added or the microwave to warm it up.

Fish: Cooked (cold)

To prepare a cooked cold fish you basically follow the steps outlined for cooked chicken. Prepare the pill, get a small bit of cooked fish and cut or break it up into small pieces. Make it wet, drain off the excess water and zap it in the microwave for a few seconds - do not make the food hot! Add the crushed pill to the warm wet fish and serve it up.

Note: Always add the Pill LAST!

The purpose of warming up the food is to make it smellier. Most food has a much stronger scent or smells when it is at room temperature than it does straight from the fridge.

If you need a small quantity of fresh raw fish it can usually be purchased from your local take away food shop. If you want to use cooked fish from a takeaway shop bear in mind that the batter or bread crumbs should be removed before it is served to the cat. (Well, it should be removed if your cat won't eat the fish with it still on there..) Also, remember to cool the fish down to about room temperature before you add the pill - otherwise the heat may damage the pill.

Never microwave any pill - it could damage the active ingredients or even make them toxic to your pet.

For those that are interested, my cat's name is "Eff-Gee" ( "F"+"G" ) and she can tell the time as well if not better than I can. Every 12 hours (+ or - 30mins) she is asking me for her pill food :-)

My other cat - that doesn't like fish, is called "Sox". He doesn't really like chicken either. Actually, he prefers the biscuits over most other foods - unless it is meat with chili on it. He is a nice cat :-)

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Cats – The Purrfect Companion?

"You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats." - Colonial proverb
Fancy having a cat at home? It will depend on you throughout its life – around 15 years with proper care – so properly budget for visits to the vets and other costs before making a decision to get a cat.
You have to budget for cat food, cat litter and scoops, and other accessories to make the cat’s life comfortable at your home.

Kitten or adult? A difficult choice since the kitten of today is going to be a member of your household for a long time. Perhaps it is better to get an adult cat since it has already developed a personality and you will know what you are getting. Adult cats easily adapt to a new home and get attached to the new owner as easily as a kitten. It does not matter whether you get a male or female because their behavior is not dependent on their gender. Neutered and spayed cats make pleasant companions.

Any good animal shelter will have healthy cats available. Remember a cat you picked up from the shelter is actually saved from death by you. To convey a proper image, choose a name for the cat from Abby, Achilles to Zummo. There are lots and lots of fancy names to choose from.

OK, you got your cat – so now what? Open up your purse so that your cat can feel pampered. You can get elegant and lavishly designed dining bowls with a price range of £8 to £80. To promote their health and well being encourage your cat to drink more water. Drinking fountains for cats that re-circulate water and provide fresh-tasting filtered water are a great idea. Like humans, pets require water as a vital element for survival. Water constitutes approximately 70% of a cat's or dog's body.

Apart from feeding the cat, we have to provide mental and physical stimulation and keep them active and happy. A ball dispensing catnip or any other small treat once in 2 to 4 hours (preset – depending upon the need of your cat) is one of the accessories which are fun to watch when the cat plays and eats.

Colorful placemats for the cat with some hilarious or funny drawing make a great gift and liven up the cat pen.

To make your cat enjoy the outdoors along with you buy a pet stroller which costs from £40 to £ 150 or a cat harness. Vaccinations, also known as kitten shots will help protect the cat from various diseases. Remember to keep your cat healthy by changing the litter box frequently.

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Cats & Dogs - Soul Mates?

Soul Mates?

I had heard more than once how Chows are very cat-like in their demeanor and attitudes and since I have had two of them in my life I can confirm this!  Given this similarity, I was still unprepared for my current Chow’s love of cats.  My last dog chased cats like every genetically correct pup should do, so I was amazed at my current pup and her feline fascination.

My pal Keisha was only five months old when she met her first cat.  His name was Pongo and he was also five months old.  We were visiting with family in Omaha Nebraska for Christmas and Keisha was determined to make friends with Pongo.

Pongo would have nothing to do with her!

They tiptoed around each other for three days even coming nose to nose eventually.  Then on Boxing Day, we had just finished our lunch of leftovers…you know turkey sandwiches and such, when we heard a crash in the kitchen. Assuming nothing serious we were slow to react.

When we finally moseyed into the kitchen to get going on the post-lunch cleanup they were caught in the act! There they were…Pongo and Keisha nose to nose eating the turkey that someone (?!?!?) had pushed off of the counter onto the floor.  They had a fine feast together and even after their tag team mischief, Pongo was still reluctant to become fast friends although  I think he was beginning to warm up to the idea after all Keisha had eaten the turkey and not him!

Unfortunately, we had to leave before the relationship was cemented.  We have not seen Pongo since but Keisha responds most enthusiastically to his name still, over three years later.

Keisha is almost four years old now and since meeting Pongo she has tried to make friends with every cat she meets.  They have all wanted absolutely nothing to do with her. And then came MOJO.

Mojo is owned by a neighbor and is an outdoor cat.  He totally suits his name and struts through the “hood” as though he owns it and has complete control over all that goes down in it.  He definitely has his MOJO going on!

At first, Keisha approached him cautiously, and he would bat at her with his paws, but never with claws out.  Slowly but surely they came closer and closer to each other.  There was the dancing around each other period that looked really funny as each would take their turn jumping forward then backward not unlike some ritual.

Then came the purring and then the rolling over and belly sniffing.  After that Mojo began to walk around and under Keisha strategically putting his tail in her face.  She managed to maintain her aloof dignity when he does the tail in face thing.  All of this has progressed to Mojo coming for walks with us, he comes to visit and waits at the door for Keisha to come out to play.  Keisha will put her paw on his bum to get the game of chase going and if Mojo is in the mood he will start the game by running or he will roll onto his back and swat at Keisha with all four paws.  Mojo is the alpha in the relationship in spite of his 10 lbs to Keisha’s 60!

It is the most wonderful thing to observe and the neighborhood is mesmerized by these two fast friends.

To see them together one wonders why some cats and dogs get along and others want to destroy each other. Is it perhaps a past life spent together? Early influences like Pongo? Maybe Keisha was a cat in her last life and thus the affinity for cats and cat-like behavior? Or are they just all very different souls with very different personalities and perspectives?  Who knows for sure?  All I know is that my heart always warms when I see them together and am awed by this amazing friendship that truly looks like soul mates in action.

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